


oh, the otter humanatee

by athletiger



Category: Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Animals, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Manatee Steve, Sea Otter Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:00:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26305978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athletiger/pseuds/athletiger
Summary: a.k.a. manasteeb.--The next time he peeks above water, he sees that the furry creature is staring back at him, head tilted sideways in curiosity. Steve’s mortified now - he didn’t mean to catch the creature’s attention. Steve ducks back under the water, slowly turning away in embarrassment. He’s an idiot to appear above water that many times, studying the new creature in interest.
Relationships: Steve Rogers & Tony Stark
Comments: 38
Kudos: 50





	oh, the otter humanatee

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BladeoftheNebula](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BladeoftheNebula/gifts).



> This ficlet is for Neb and Tina who poked me until I gave in:
> 
> Neb: Now I’m just waiting for Tig to write me one where Steve is a manatee  
> tig: steve a manatee and tony a sea otter?  
> tig: i will never get rid of my animal au reputation XD
> 
> Curse you both for pleading with me for four months straight. It's all your fault. I blame you and the rest of the PotS Discord.

There’s a brown furry creature on the bank near where Steve is resting. While he doesn’t need to be above the surface this often to breathe, he can’t help but peek every so often at the small small, fluffy creature bumbling on land. He’s curious, to say the least, because he’s never seen a creature like  _ him _ before in this part of these warm waters. Steve wants to move closer, to get a better look at him, but he’s close to shallow waters as it is. Any closer and he’s going to scrape his belly against the ridges of the floor.

The next time he peeks above water, he sees that the furry creature is staring back at him, head tilted sideways in curiosity. Steve’s mortified now - he didn’t mean to catch the creature’s attention. Steve ducks back under the water, slowly turning away in embarrassment. He’s an idiot to appear above water that many times, studying the new creature in interest.

But just as he’s about to leave the area—he’s wading into dangerous waters as it is—there’s a  _ thump _ from where something bumps into his side. Slowly, he turns towards the thing that bumped him, only to face the small creature he was looking at earlier. The once-fluffy brown fur is now slick in the water, but it’s clear that he swims perfectly fine as much as he’s good at walking on land.

“Rude of you to leave without saying hi,” the creature says, staring at him meaningfully.

Steve can’t believe that the creature is  _ right there. _ It always astounds him how quickly the small creature can swim. “Hi Tony,” he stammers. If he could blush, he would be blushing right now. As it is, he can only duck his head again, embarrassed from being caught out staring at Tony again.

There’s a twinkle in his eye when Tony says, “Hi Steve,” like he knows how much he affects Steve. Tony swims around so that Steve’s forced to look at the small creature again. There’s something between his paws. “A gift for you.” There’s a hopeful note in his tone as he brings the object closer to Steve’s face.

“It’s a pretty rock,” Steve says. “Very smooth and round and blue.”

“It’s my new favorite rock,” Tony admits, staring at it. It shimmers under the sunlight that breaks through the rolling waters. “I’m going to use it to crack open clams and oysters when I need to eat. But I want you to have it.”

Steve stares at the rock in interest, before he slides past to look at the creature. There’s an intense look of longing on his face, that sacrifice that he’s giving up his favorite rock...for Steve instead. And  _ oh, _ Steve hasn’t had someone give him gifts like this before. It’s sweet.

But he has no need for a rock, considering that he doesn’t have a place to put it. So, with regret, he bumps his nose to Tony’s rock and says, “Thank you for the sweet gift. I really like it. But you know there is no place for me to put it.”

“Oh.” Tony looks disappointed for a second, face screwing up in confusion, and Steve’s heart sinks with it. He wants to accept Tony’s gift, he really does! He fears that the rejection will drive the small sea creature away as quickly as he came. But he needn’t have feared, because Tony brightens again and tucks it in a pocket under his forearm. “That’s okay, I’ll keep it safe for you. I’ll just use it when I need it.”

“And I’ll look at it fondly when you use it to crack your clams,” Steve says, pressing nose against Tony’s body. Tony giggles before moving backwards and turning to press his nose back instead. 

“I’ll get you another gift instead,” Tony promises.

“Kelp?” Steve asks hopefully. He loves kelp, but it’s hard to forage for them.

Tony nods, chirping happily. “Kelp it shall be then. I shall get you lots of kelp.” He pulls back. “Don’t go anywhere.”

Steve watches fondly as Tony backflips once, twice before he darts away, presumably to find some kelp. Somehow Tony has a knack for finding it. Steve doesn’t know how he manages to find so much of it when he himself struggles to find them, but he finds joy to see Tony’s face light up. He drifts down in the water, blinking slowly. He’s getting sleepy.

Maybe he shall nap for a few moments.

He drifts, floating in the water, bobbing to the surface every so often to get some air. In this state, he is extra defenseless, unable to do much but do the absolute necessity of staying alive. So it’s in this state in which he cannot hear the boat encroaching towards him, motor blades moving ever so viciously. The loudness of the ever closer path of doom does not wake him up.

And Steve’s world explodes into fiery pain as the evil blades fall upon his back and takes his blood and life force from him. It hurts,  _ it hurts, ithurtsithurtsithurts, _ and Steve lets out a wail of agony as he sinks, sinks, sinks, unable to support himself up. He cannot fight. He cannot flee. All that is left for him is the unending fire.

This time, when he drifts, it’s to blackness, unable to hear the panicked and angry chirps, unable to see the fiery temper of his small savior angrily shoving his precious rock into the motor blade, and when that doesn’t work, stuff kelp into the quickly moving blades instead. All that is the unending sleep which calls to him.

* * *

Sometimes he hears voices that speak above him. He’s cold, so very cold that he can’t even shiver. His body is numb. Steve is so tired. Yet, in all this coldness, he can feel a small ball of warmth pressed up against his belly. It doesn’t shake any of the cold away, but Steve feels comforted by it anyway.

“Don’t leave me,” he hears. “I didn’t willingly go back to Sam and Nat for you to die on me, so you better live or I shall be very cross with you.”

“Tony! Come on, ice is too cold for you to be on.”

The warm ball presses closer. Steve wants to wake up and comfort the warmth, but he’s too tired. Instead, he falls asleep dreaming about a fuzzy brown creature and kelp.

* * *

Steve wakes in stages. He’s floating in the water, body aching from barely healed injuries across his back, unable to hold himself up. Something’s holding him up instead so he can breathe. Steve opens bleary eyes to see a small creature swimming around him in circles, but even that expends a lot of his energy. He shall try again after he naps.

The second time he wakes, he can flap his flippers a few times before he gets tired. The third time, he can stay awake for longer than thirty seconds. Steve blinks once, twice, inhaling air. He yawns.

“You’re awake.” Tony drifts into Steve’s line of sight. “I think you’re awake. You’re awake right?”

“I’m awake,” Steve confirms. His back aches a bit when he moves, but it’s a dull roar of pain instead of the white-hot agony that he remembered last. “What happened? Where am I?”

“You’re at a conservatory,” Tony says simply. He looks away for a moment to look around instead. “I used to live here for a while.”

“And then you escaped.” Steve tests the binds which holds him up. He can wriggle a little. It feels weird to be this stationary; even in his normal sleep, he bobs from the bottom of the seafloor to the surface to get air. He wants to be out of these binds now so that he can do it again. And swim possibly too.

“Yeah, I escaped,” Tony repeats, looking back at Steve. “I got bored! It’s nice to do all these shows for the humans, but humans are  _ booooring. _ They give me cups that don’t stack! Who does that Steve?” Tony looks infuriated at that, flailing to express his indignance. “I just wanted to see something new! So when Natasha and Sam weren’t looking, I gave them the slip. They’re kinda mad about that by the way, so it’s a great and noble sacrifice that I came back.”

Tony sobers, swimming closer. “You’re okay, right? Does anything hurt?”

Steve finally manages to wriggle out of the binds that’s holding him up. He sinks slowly to the bottom. He’s tired already from the struggle, but there are more pressing issues. The floor is smooth instead of rocky, and there are no plants. It’s so different from what he’s used to, and he doesn’t know how he’s going to forage for food when there’s absolutely nothing there. “I’m okay,” he says, but he can’t keep the despair from his voice.

“But something’s wrong,” Tony says.

“There’s just…” Steve trails off. “There’s nothing here. There’s no food.”

“Oh.” Tony falls silent for a moment. “That’s right, you’ve never been here before. Don’t worry about it. Sam brings the food, so you don’t have to worry. But I have a gift for you. Stay here.” As Tony darts away, Steve flaps his tail once, twice, drifting towards the surface. The movement shoots deep, aching pains down his spine from his scars, but he manages to float to the surface to get some air.

He’s going to heal, but he presumes that the aches will never truly go away. Steve sighs. It was a close call, and he never expected that he was going to live. He had seen companions fallen to those motors  _ (Bucky, _ he thinks sadly), so it’s a miracle that he’s not dead.

“Steve?” The voice isn’t Tony’s. That voice… _ it can’t be. _

Slowly, Steve turns, holding his breath, to see... “Bucky?”

Bucky bumps noses with Steve. “Hey.”

“I thought you were dead,” Steve whispers.

Bucky shakes his head. “I thought so too. But Sam and Nat found me and brought me here. It took me a while to heal, and I lost a flipper.” Bucky pulls back slightly to show Steve the metal fin where his flipper used to be. “But I’m better now.”

“Bucky missed you, so I promised him that I would find you,” Tony says besides them.

“And I said that you escaping from here when you’ve grown up in here all your life is a dangerous and reckless endeavor,” Bucky scolds, but he softens when Tony darts in and presses his nose against Bucky’s. “But thank you for saving my best friend.”

“He’s my best friend too, buddy,” Tony replies. “I couldn’t let him die out there when I could help it.” Tony turns around to face Steve again. “Here, I saved some kelp for you. Bucky wanted to steal all of it.”

“I haven’t had fresh kelp since I’ve been here!”

“But it’s for Steve, and he’s healing!” Tony snarks back. He swims forward and bumps his nose against Steve before Steve can even think about protesting. “Now that you’re back with Bucky, you both can distract Sam and Nat while I make my great escape to find pretty rocks and kelp. I need to find my new favorite rock anyway.”

“The things you do for Steve, and not for me?” Bucky gripes behind Tony. 

“Steve’s my favorite,” Tony declares. “But I suppose Steve can share.”

“I can certainly share,” Steve says before he takes the kelp from Tony’s paws. “Thank you Tony, for the kelp, and for Bucky.”

Tony beams. “My pleasure.”

“What happened to the blue rock anyway?” Steve asks.

Tony flails. “I shoved it into the dumb motor that hurt you. I was so angry that it hurt you! And then I shoved trash into it when it won’t stop.”

“He’s the one who saved you,” Bucky says wistfully. “And I’m glad for that.”

“I’ll find a new rock,” Tony promises. “And I’ll keep that one safe for you. But after I nap.”

Tony presses his tiny paws against Steve’s nose, chirping happily before he swims and settles atop of Steve. He expects for his scars to ache as Tony sleeps on top of him, but strangely it doesn’t. 

Steve settles, heart warming at the fact that he has both friends with him now. He presses his nose to Bucky’s again and drifts to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> tina: No seriously what happens next  
> tina: So Tony goes onto on of his little escapades to fetch rocks and kelp  
> tina: And HE DOESNT COME BACK _gasp_  
>  tina: So Steve is WORRIED  
> tina: And he asks Bucky for help  
> tina: And they manage to get out  
> tina: And it’s FINDING TONY  
> tina: And eventually it turns out Tony was.... hmmm caught up in some plastics or something and was found by Sam or Nat and brought to a different part of the facility  
> tina: So he was there ALL ALONG  
> tina: And when the other fish friendos tell him Steve and Bucky escaped to go find him Tony goes after them too!  
> tina: And shenanigans ensue  
> tina: And eventually they all find each other and are soso happy  
> athletiger: solitary confinement for escaping again but not really  
> tina: TIG this isn’t over  
> athletiger: _pouts_ u greedy  
> tina: Bucky trying to speak whale to ask for directions must be canon  
> tina: Two crippled manatees looking for an otter sounds like the beginning of a bad joke  
> tina: Btw i died at the cups that don’t stack reference  
> athletiger: so insulted  
> athletiger: insult to humanatee
> 
> \---  
> Find me on [Discord](https://discord.com/invite/z5WSqbS) for my otter shenanigans. I am also on [tumblr](http://athletiger.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](http://twitter.com/athletiger/)!


End file.
